Poomsae produces 2 golds, 1 silver

Rodolfo Reyes Jr. (Photo by David John Cubangbang)

The Philippines kicked off its taekwondo campaign in the 30th Southeast Asian Games with consecutive individual poomsae golds at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Saturday.

Rodolfo Reyes Jr. and Jocel Lyn Ninobla padded the Philippine haul, which also got a silver from Rinna Babanto-Dustin Mella in the Taegeuk-Gijang Mixed Pair event.

Jocel Lyn Ninobla bags another gold for the Philippines, winning the women’s individual poomsae. (David John Cubangbang)

Reyes lived up to his promise of improving on his bronze-medal effort two years ago, ruling the Men’s Recognized Poomsae event this time. He scored 8.346 points, way ahead of silver medalist Sengmuang Pattarapong of Thailand, who finished with 8.199. Myanmar’s Shine Sun (7.849) and Malaysia’s Anak Grocer Augustine Rudy (7.866) tied for bronze.

Meanwhile, Ninobla frustrated another Thai, her 8.433 narrowly beating Srisahakit Ornawee’s 8.432. Vietnam’s Le Tran Kim Uyen (8.149) and Putri Rachmania of Indonesia (7.965) also shared the bronze medal. Mella and Babanto lost to a Malaysian pair.